Single Armbian image for RK + AML + AW (aarch64 ARMv8)

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The start system in Coreelec is not compatible with LibreELECE Armbian etc. If you run coreelec on your TV box, you will no longer be able to run LE and Armbian normally until the full recovery of the standard firmware via the USB Burn Tool and the new activation of the universal multi-boot, which is used in all new systems.

For all. I don't support s905x3. I don't have this equipment. All messages about this platform will be transferred to another topic. What works or doesn't work from this equipment - I don't know. I do not give any answers or comments on the s905x3 chip.

The build and publication of unified test images with a common core for the Rockchip Amlogic Allwinner platform begins.

Now all images Armbian and LE has all the files for activate the multi-boot. Anything addition to download and copy to media is not required.

1. Download the image for your device
2. Unpack
3. Burn the image on the medium

4. Configure in the file (uEnv.txt) launch parameters for the desired platform and model (uncomment the desired lines and comment out or delete unused ones)

If universal multi-upload has not yet been activated on this device, you need to activate it once. There are several options for activating multi-loading.

option A

- Connect the prepared media to the device and turn on the power, boot into Android
- Open the app "Update&Backup"
- Click on "Select" local update and chose the file on the removable media aml_autoscript.zip
- Start "Update"
- System will reboot twice and start running the system from external media.

option B

- try using the "toothpick method"

How to run these images on the Rockchip and Allwinner platform .

1. Download the image for your device
2. Unpack
3. Burn the image on the medium

4. Configure in the file (uEnv.txt) launch parameters for the desired platform and model (uncomment the desired lines and comment out or delete unused ones)
5. If your device does not support USB startup , you can only use SD cards and you need to add the correct u-boot to the SD card (for details on how to add it, see the text of this message)
6. Connect the prepared media to the device and turn on the power

Please note that the DTB configuration order has changed.

Now a single configuration method is used for all Rockchip Allwinner Amlogic platforms. The file (uEnv.txt) is used for configuration DTB all platforms.

Now a single configuration method is used for all platforms, using the file (uEnv.txt). You need to edit this file to configure it. You need to uncomment the two lines that are responsible for your platform and specify the correct DTB for your model. If you use this image to run on the one platform, you can delete it from the settings file (uEnv.txt) strings from other platforms.

Need to pick up the option for the file system will run. Pay attention, after you add\change the dtb file, you need to try to run the system and waiting to run 7-10 minutes. If not happened, repeat with a different dtb file.

Pay attention.

The installation algorithm in eMMC has changed. My recommend that you perform a clean installation in eMMC. Be sure to make a full backup of eMMC before installing it in eMMC.

The system installation scripts in eMMC have changed accordingly. If you have a system with eMMC core 5 installed on RK33xx, it is advisable to perform a clean installation in eMMC to upgrade to the new version.

For the aw H6 platform, all scripts are already in the image (which have the ending aw). You need to rename the files with the replacement (remove the ".aw" ending).

Fix for correct color to G12 (Amlogic S905X2 S922X)

For models based on g12 (s905x2 s922), which have a problem not the correct color ,

If you are starting the system from an SD card, you need to copy file u-boot.sd to u-boot.ext,

If you are starting the system from an USB, you need to copy file u-boot.usb to u-boot.ext

When installing in eMMC, you do not need to do anything with your hands, the installation script itself will perform the necessary system configuration and when running from eMMC, the system will work with the correct color.

Please note, this version for the transition to the release of a single image for the platform Rockchip + Amlogic + Allwinner. The new image after writing to external media and after configuring the used dtb (and if necessary adding the desired u-boot option to run from the SD card on the Rockchip and Allwinner) can be used simultaneously on AML (s9xxx), RK (rk3399 and rk3328) and AW (H6). If the TV boxes RK (rk3328 and rk3399) and AW (H6) in eMMC installed a new version of u-boot with support for starting the system with USB, adding u-boot to SD card is not required, the system will automatically start on with USB.

Important change. With this version (>= 20200218), you can easily add the desired u-boot on any PC (including Windows) .

Rules for using the new u-boot option. Download, Armbian image, unpack. Write image Armbian to the SD card. Download and write the desired version of the u-boot file to SD card. Configure the DTB and the launch string (APPEND) in (uEnv.txt) for the desired model\platform.

Pay attention. Now you don't need to write u-boot with complex commands, you write the u-boot image with the same program as you usually write an Armbian image. This allows you to configure the system to run (including writing a u-boot image) on any PC (including Windows).

Pay attention. The new version changed the size of the partitions that are obtained when writing an image (all images have a fixed size of 5GB). This u-boot entry option only applies to the new version 20200218 and subsequent versions. Don't try this for old images. This will not work on older images.

OLD add u-boot

Spoiler

In the "U-BOOT" directory on the site there are versions of files for writing to a universal image for these models, to run the system from an SD card on the AML, RK and AW platform. I pay attention, u-boot records need to be performed after writing the image to the SD card, with two commands (to save the existing partition table).

Write u-boot to SD card. U-boot replacement is performed by two commands.

if you have windows and can't use the add u-boot commands to the SD card, use the SD+USB combination , write only the new u-boot to the SD card, and write the Armbian image to a USB storage device. And connect them together to the TV box.

To turn on the sound on models AML

where it is not present after the initial start. To enable audio on g12 (s905x2 s922x), you only need to run the script (g12_sound.sh) or for GX\GXM models, run the script (gx_sound.sh). You need to run the script

sudo /root/g12_sound.sh

For gxbb\GXL\GXM models (S905\S905X\S912), if there is no sound, you need to try running the script (gx_sound.sh)

sudo /root/gx_sound.sh

For those who still use older versions of images (up to 20200323), for the sound to work correctly on g12, you must first (before running the script g12_sound.sh) delete PULSEAUDIO.

Odroid N2

When starting from an SD card on Odroid N2, you must, after recording the image, write uboot to the SD card, configure uEnv.txt, additionally rename the script (boot.scr.aw) in (boot.scr). To be able to start any system from any media (USB SD eMMC), i'm recommend using the updated version of u-boot-SPI. Details about u-boot-SPI for Odroid N2 can be found here.

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Armbian_5.99_Rk3399-tv_Debian_buster_next_5.4.0-rc7-next-20191115 and desktop images boot on a km8p (2/16gb) with several gxm dtb, but I think that gxm-q200.dtb the best one since only fast ethernet. As expected, wifi not recognized. For the desktop version, X11 does not launch properly and there is nothing in Xorg log file. I was able to launch manually startx as root and it worked a few minutes before freezing.

With the server image, I face kernel panics. I'll try another image with a more stable kernel to be sure the hardware is ok.

Alas, I have no such equipment and I can only speculate. If the console version starts normally, and the DE version gives an error, there may be a problem with the software. For a quick test of the source of the problem-you can remove the entire directory with kernel modules (/lib/modules) from the media. If the error persists, try replacing the kernel and modules by taking them from the production system.

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The AML-g12-legacy images are universal. They can be run on the RK platform.

If the eMMC has a u-boot version that supports direct USB startup, it is sufficient to configure the file (extlinux.conf) and the system can run on RK. If the eMMC does not support USB startup, you can use the combined method. Write to SD card micro image u-boot for the desired model of the RK chip. Write an Armbian image to a USB drive, configure (extlinux.conf), connect both media to the device and turn on the power. The system will automatically start from the USB drive.

The images themselves are in directories with a new label (current version 19.11.3) at this link.

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Good news. Managed to find a way to work around the color issue on G12 platform + kernel =>5.4 with corrupted AML u-boot. You need to download and copy all the files from this directory to the media. New versions 20191208 already have some of the necessary files, you only need to add one file u-boot.ext

Additional file download and copying (u-boot.ext) only need if your device screen color is not correct.

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I noticed that the Build_Armbian git tree had a new set of changes merged in a couple of days ago. I tried it out last night and there is one issue that I have seen so far. I did a build of 'Armbian_19.11.3_Aml-g12_bionic_current_5.4.0.img and the debs and img are missing the dtb files. I will copy the dtb's from another build to further test, but wanted to let you know of this issue. I noticed a lot of code restructuring in this set of build changes, and since it hasn't been announced yet, I suspect I am trying things before they are ready.

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Pay attention. This version changes the setting of the DTB for the Odroid models N2. Now all tuning principles are common to all models (files uEnv.ini and extlinux.conf). For models based on g12 (s905x2 s922), if you do not have the right color, you need to use the dual boot mode. To do this, use the SD card and add the "u-boot.ext" file to the Sd card. You can download this file from the site or rename an existing in image u-boot.new to u-boot.ext.